Animation Career Possibilities: Now Is a Great Time
Updated: Jan. 20, 2012
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If you are considering an animation career, your timing is great. Technology is accelerating all the time, and people always want the latest gadgets and applications. Careers in computer animation are likely to be among the fastest growing.
The potential ways to use computer animation are almost endless. Two of the most popular are animated features and television programs. And an animation career with a film studio or television network would be many people's idea of a dream job! However, you needn't limit your thinking to these glamorous careers. Consider all the other ways that animation is being used today. Advertising, online video, computer games and education are some prime examples.
As video becomes ever more accessible to more people, there is an increasing demand for creative material, as well as advertising, that is geared to viewers of video. These viewers, keep in mind, include web surfers watching Youtube, as well as people downloading material on their mp3 players and cell phones.
What do you have to learn to get started in an animator career? It depends on what you want to specialize in.
No matter what you want to do, however, you have to start with basic artistic skills. Even in today's high tech world, at the most basic level, animation is something that starts in the mind and then drawn, whether on a piece of paper or on a computer screen.
This is a highly creative and artistic career, so you do need some of the same artistic skills that a painter in Rembrandt's era required!
Graphics and Animation Careers
You may want to design video games. This is a huge and growing industry. It's also the kind of industry that is likely to be immune to economic ups and downs. This is because many people are, simply, addicted to computer games. Millions of people around the world have an insatiable appetite for new and flashy games, with exotic creatures, landscapes and special effects. You could be someone who either designs such a game from the ground up, or part of a team, working on one aspect of the game. If you love to play computer games yourself, and have a sense of what they should look like, this might be a good direction for you to take.
Another quickly growing, and probably recession-resistant area of computer animation is internet advertising. You see animated ads all over the internet now. As more and more ads go online, there is an ever-greater need to stand out from the crowd. Clever and original animation is one way to do this. You could get a job working for a company, large or small, or you could be a freelancer. Internet advertising is only going to get bigger, and it's a great opportunity for anyone with the artistic and technological skills.
You could learn the necessary skills for careers in computer animation on your own, or you could attend a school. More colleges are now offering programs in this exciting field. There are also online programs that allow you to study at your own pace. However you decide to prepare for your animation career, it's a good idea to learn as much as you can so you can start earning money in the near future!
